Via Talking Points Memo, click to read what Roger Ebert had to say about Billo while shaking your head at the horrible joke in the title of this post.

This is from last week, or the week before, but James Wolcott's not-too-long take down of the DC hive-mindset is great, each delicious sentence dripping with scorn.

Gay marriage initiatives get the Nate Silver treatment and what does he find? Sorry, haters, your days are numbered.

The model predicts that by 2012, almost half of the 50 states would vote against a marriage ban, including several states that had previously voted to ban it. In fact, voters in Oregon, Nevada and Alaska (which Sarah Palin aside, is far more libertarian than culturally conservative) might already have second thoughts about the marriage bans that they'd previously passed.

And also:

Marriage bans, however, are losing ground at a rate of slightly less than 2 points per year. So, for example, we'd project that a state in which a marriage ban passed with 60 percent of the vote last year would only have 58 percent of its voters approve the ban this year.

(Via Waxy)

I keep expecting other people to comment on the suspicious prosecutorial misconduct in the Senator Stevens conviction. And now AG Holder is dropping their case and Stevens gets off scott free because of it. I'm not usually one who tinfoil hats my way through conspiracy theories, but this seems to be right in the wheelhouse of the politicized Bush DOJ. Right?

Watch the positive Tweets come in in the days surrounding the Inauguration - it gets crazy around 9 AM Tuesday morning.

Another big event calls for another look at the Facebook Status Stream or FaStStream (get it? get it?). This one's even in chronological order as opposed to the 273 Facebook Status from Election Day.

You can see the waves again, from mood to mood, more subtle this time. From eagerness the night before, to some folks waiting in line on the Mall, to when CNN/Facebook started up (those status messages are tagged), to when Obama was speaking and peeps were calling out their favorite quotations, to Rev Lowry calling for an 'Amen', to people getting ready to go out to Inaugural Balls.

One surprising absence is commentary on Chief Justice Roberts' flubbing the oath (it's been confirmed that the 20th Amendment makes the Oath a formality, so Obama IS officially the President). And it's hard to tell that anyone was watching the parade (even the viewing stand was empty by the time it started). CNN was making references to the ceremonies running late all day and I hope, hope, HOPE, they don't turn this into a 'theme' of the Administration. We'll see. I watched the ceremony in a conference room at work on ABC via Slingbox. There were about 30-40 co-workers watching as well. Those are my memories from the day, what did you catch?

I'm exhausted and the Obamas still have 4 more balls to get to as of 11:46PM on 1/20. Not sure how they're still going.

I'm going to lay it out right now. Facebook/Twitter needs to allow for exporting of these streams, or someone's going to have to build the tool, because I don't have the time to format these bitches every time we come together as a nation to celebrate the election of a transcendent figure. Got it?

Without further adieu, below are 208 Facebook Status Messages from my friends in 24 hours including the Inauguration.

BK is celebrating the final night of the worst 8 years our country has seen -- at least in my lifetime. on Monday
JA has acquired his inauguration tickets. We're in the back in the silver zone. Can't wait till tomorrow! on Monday
EL is so excited for tomorrow i can hardly focus on anything! holy schmoley! we will finally have an inspiring leader! on Monday

More messages after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

"Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

I don't know how to say it any other way. Today feels different. Hopeful, not cynical, proud. We're getting a capable administration, one that believes in a government that can help. Congratulations to America. That's it for now.

Here's the Election Time Capsule I put together in November.

Introduction
Celebrate! - A run down of the celebrations.
WINS! - A list of 38 sites and their winning posts.
Winners and Losers - 18 lists of election winners and losers.
Turnout, Voting, and Polling - Articles and stories about voting, polling, and turn out.
Reactions - Reactions from the world, pundits, and celebrities.
How Obama Won - Some thoughts on how Obama won.
Why McCain Lost - Some thoughts on why McCain lost and what next for the GOP.
Expectations and Advice - There are a lot of people with expectations and a lot of people with advice.
Race - Obviously electing the first black president is going to bring up comments on race.
Money and Business - What will the impact on your money and you business be?
The Media - Without the media, wherever would we be!?
Humor - Without the humor, wherever would we be!?
Miscellaneous - Without the miscellaneous, wherever would we be!?
Personal Stories from Friends - Just what it says.
273 Status Political Status Messages in 27 Hours - Just what it says.
Via - Here’s a list of all the sites I used in putting this together – the sources.

Still living the good life.

This insanely long oral history took HOURS to read, but I did it anyway!